If Aubrey didn't want me to come, then why did she tell me where she'd be? Why did she send me pictures of her in the outfit she'd be wearing? "Do you want to rip these clothes off of me?" She asked. I understand the sanctity of girl's night. "No boyfriends, ugh," Aubrey told me. "I just want to dance with you till 5 AM and then fuck you as the sun comes up." If I am being honest, the last place I wanted to spend my Saturday night was Stereo. But I also wanted to rip those clothes off of her. This was the first night we would be apart since starting dating four weeks earlier.
Sebastian, a friend of mine from work and sometimes out of work, he is really into the Montreal club scene. He happened to be going to Stereo that night with his gang of misfits. He said I could tag along. The doors didn't open till 2 AM so I threw on a gray collared shirt over my black tee and headed to Big in Japan. I almost walked by the entrance before I noticed it. The door was gray with a rusted handle. It used to be painted red which made it easier to spot. There were no signs. The only thing that would indicate what was inside were the two Japanese symbols on the glass door-window. Inside, the bar was dimly lit. The place was shaped like a tree. The long narrow u-shaped bar was the trunk and off to either side were tables kind of like branches. Above the bar were various whiskey bottles all different sizes and shades of brown. Some were nearly full. Some were nearly empty. They hung by the caps so the entire bottle could be seen.
Sitting down, I looked at my phone. I had two texts from Aubrey. "We're at ToquΓ©. Cassidy wants to get another bottle of wine. We're going to be so drunk by the time we get to Stereo." Text two said, "Ashanti found a server she thinks is hot. She's by the bar talking to him. Maybe this isn't a girl's night out after all. What are you up to?"
Hero, the bartender, he grabbed one of the bottles hanging over the bar and brought it to me. The bottle was half full and had two Kanji on it. On the back was a piece of masking tape with the names Aubrey and William written on it. As he set it down in front of me, he said, "konbonwa" and bowed his head slightly. Then he got a heavy-bottomed rocks glass with one large round ice cube. He set it down next to the bottle of whiskey and walked away.
I repositioned the bottle, making sure the sticker with mine and Aubrey's name was front and center. I snapped a pic and texted her. No sooner had I poured my drink and taken my first sip had I gotten a response. "You bastard. Are you drinking our whiskey? You better leave me some."
"I don't know," I responded. "I am kind of devastated. This girl I like has abandoned me. I think I am just going to drown my sorrows."
The whiskey pleasantly burned the back of my throat when I swallowed. The bar was full but not too full. I heard mostly French and Japanese, almost no English. Me being an American expatriate I understood almost none of it. Across from my side of the bar was a group of four women. They were having their own girls' night. That group's version of Ashanti smiled at me. I smiled back before taking another sip of my drink.
My phone vibrated against the mahogany bar. "I almost want to ask you to meet me at Stereo," Aubrey said. "But I know that isn't your scene."
"I'm meeting DeShawn and Hunter at Cloakroom." This was the first time I had lied to her. It seemed OK. It seemed like a reasonable lie. "And then we're supposed to go back to Hunter's and check out his new mancave. Apparently, it has a pool table and some old-fashioned pinball machines."
I waited a while before I got a response. What came next was a video. Aubrey filmed herself in the bathroom. She had on a black top with tiny white polka dots. It was tied off to the side and very low cut. I watched as she untied her top and allowed it to fall open, revealing her soft round breasts. Her hand slid over the treble clef tattoo on her hip down under the waistline of her cigarette pants. Before the video finished, I received another text. "But I need you. My body feels like it's going through withdrawals. You've been inside me every day since we met. This morning seems like forever ago."
I looked left and then right. No one was paying attention to me. I watched the video again and rubbed my hand against the bulge in my jeans. Then I responded. "You know I want to. I am sitting here at our bar and my cock is so hard. But this is good. We don't need to spend every night together, right?"
I was old enough to know that Aubrey and I were still in that crazy honeymoon phase where we couldn't get enough of one another. It was anyone's guess what we'd be when that wore off. But for now, I wanted to roll in it until my body was drenched. I wanted to let it soak into my pores so I could never get it off of me. My phone buzzed. "I just want your hand around my throat." I had never met someone so insatiable and it drove me crazy. Here I was planning to find her in an after-hours club. I was going to seek her out in a sea of humanity. I trusted that we'd find one another but we could go hours in that place and never connect. My phone buzzed. "We're headed to Velvet Speakeasy before we go to Stereo. Not sure if that information will be useful to you at all π." The phone buzzed again and it was a picture of Cassidy, Aubrey, Ashanti, and Beth all crammed into the back of a car. The next pic that came was of Aubrey's white lips pressed against Ashanti's black lips. Ashanti's black hand cradled Aubrey's white face. Their tongues reached into one another's mouths. The text that followed was: "Wish you were here."
I responded with, "I just asked a few guys at the bar to make out with me but I didn't get any takers."
Almost an hour passed before I got a response. "That's a shame. Maybe you aren't as cute as you think you are."
I left her message unread for a good half hour before I responded. "That seems unlikely. I tricked you into wanting me, didn't I?"
Aubrey responded right away. "Yeah, but I am often drunk. So, I wouldn't read too much into that if I were you π"
Another hour passed. Big in Japan thinned out. I poured myself one more drink from the bottle and then waved Hero over. "Arigatou gozaimaus," I said, deciding to use the more formal thank you. "I'm finished for the night." Hero bowed his head and removed the bottle. He placed it back in its spot. I made sure to leave enough for Aubrey and me for next time.
When I left, it was nearly 1:30 AM. I grabbed an Uber. He took me through the Red-Light District and by the Quatier Des Spectacles. At this time of night, there were more people out than one would expect to see. Some moved slowly shuffling their feet after a long day and night. Others were running through the fountains that came up out of the concrete. The snow had all melted. Everyone's thick sweaters and heavy parkas were put away until the fall. That change from the frigid winter to the warm hot summer, it had a way of making you feel free for the first time. I rolled the window down and let the balmy night air hit me in the face. I breathed deeply. "It's a nice night," the driver said. I nodded to him in his rearview. Part of me wanted to stick my head out like a silly dog. I wanted to scream Aubrey's name until my throat hurt. I couldn't wait to surprise her. I wanted to see her face when she realized we had been playing a game of hide-and-seek all night.
My Uber dropped me off in front of Stereo. The line was already halfway around the block. I found Sebastian and his boyfriend, Amed, near the back. They let me jump in. "Everyone else is in the front," Sebastian said. "We are going to meet them inside."
I nodded and leaned in to hug him. "Thanks for letting me come. I appreciate it."
I hugged Amed as Sebastian replied, "Anytime. I am always saying to you that we don't hang out enough!"
I searched for Aubrey even though I knew she wouldn't be there. They were probably still at the speakeasy, Cassidy convincing everyone to do shots. Ashanti was probably flirting with the bartender. Beth was texting her jealous husband who always thought she was cheating anytime she wasn't in eyesight. The last text I got from Aubrey was about fifteen minutes earlier. It said, "You know what would go great with this sour apple shooter? Your cum dripping down the back of my throat π"
Sebastian pushed me. "You're looking for her, aren't you?"